Fluency and Stuttering Therapy

It is common to see stuttering begin in a child between the ages of two and six years old. Oftentimes, a child will experience a period of disfluency and not struggle with stuttering long term. However, if this period of disfluency lasts longer than six months, it may be time to seek out therapy from a speech-language pathologist, or SLP. The SLP will look at various factors, such as the number of disfluencies that are the stuttering type and how the child reacts when they stutter. Once the SLP has assessed the child, they will determine if the child struggles with normal disfluencies that occur during development or if the child has a stutter.

There are a variety of ways in which an SLP will provide therapy for stuttering. Direct strategies involve working with the child to change how they speak. Indirect strategies involve finding ways to make it easier for the child to talk. This can include slowing down your own speech and asking fewer questions. The SLP will also help you learn more about how to respond when your child stutters, changes you can make to improve your child's fluency, and what to do to improve how your child feels about talking.